The Long Game Novelisation
by Josman
Summary: The Doctor takes Rose and Adam to the far future, where humanity has an empire stretching across the skies. But all is not as it seems, and dark secrets lay behind the scenes, threatening to enslave the world.
1. The Offices In Space

**Author's notes: And so we've reached my least favorite story from series 1. But hey, I like a challenge.**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, a month's break and I still don't own Doctor Who.**

**The Long Game**

**Chapter 1: The Offices in Space:**

This future had a look that was much closer to the future Rose had imagined. Weird space-age artworks lined the rooms.s well as monitor screens, dotted here and there. Even the colours and the furniture had s distinctly futuristic feel to them. It could almost have been some "home of tomorrow" exhibition were it not for the dirt, the marks where the walls needed repainting, rubbish that needed clearing and a hot stuffiness in the air that needed adjusting. Even in the future, nothing was ever perfect.

As the Doctor and Rose stepped out, they'd noticed a distinct lack of enthusiasm in their new companion, who was struggling to even make it to the door. This had given them an idea.

"It's the year 200,000." The Doctor muttered to her. "We're on a spaceship. No, wait, space station. Try that gate over there. Got that?" She nodded. "Now go."

Rose stuck her head back into the box. "Adam, come on out now."

Adam finally followed them out. His first response was to look around in bewilderment. "W-where are we?" He managed finally.

"Good question." Said Rose, trying her best to speak like the Doctor. "Judging by the architecture, I'd say about 200,000. You can feel that vibration so we must be on some sort of space station. Definitely a space station. Bit warm in here, they could turn the heating down. Tell you what, let's try that gate. Come on."

She pulled open an old fashioned lift gate and led the men through to a gallery, through one massive glass wall, they could see the Earth below. But it wasn't the quiet, green planet they'd just left, but a brilliant hub of activity. Below, they could see massive glass cities glittering in the sunlight as well as a million rockets taking off and landing, shuttling people and goods all around the world and beyond.

"This is..." She began, but faltered. "I'll let the Doctor describe it."

"The Great and Bountiful Human Empire." The Doctor said. "Planet Earth at its height. Covered in mega cities. Five moons. Population, 96 billion. The hub of a galactic domain, stretching over a million planets, a million species. With mankind right at the middle."

Adam promptly fainted.

"He's your boyfriend." Said the Doctor, without looking at the man.

"Not anymore." Said Rose.

* * *

A glass of water, a reassuring talk, and a quick swig of something out of the TARDIS's drinks cabinet later and Adam was notably calmer, though he still maintained a frightened composure as they moved through the station.

"Come on Adam, open your mind." Said the Doctor. "Fantastic period of history this, you're gonna love it. Human race at its most intelligent. Culture, art, politics. This era's got fine food, good manners..."

"Oy, watch where you're standing." Cried a man, shoving the Doctor out of the doorway he'd been standing in. He passed through, followed by several dozen more. Their lunch hour having just commenced.

Around the hall, a dozen metal flaps were opened up from the inside. The workers gathered at the new windows, where people in checked aprons were handing out a variety of meals in tin containers.

"Hello Simon." They heard the nearest server saying. "Don't tell me, kron burger with cheese? Coming right up." He turned to the next man. "And you'll be having kron burger with perjave?"

Rose peered over the glass counter, the interior looked more like the contents of a burger van than anything else, complete with greasy surfaces and suspicious-looking meats.

Further back in the queue, two men were getting in an argument over who got there first.

"You two, stop pushing. You can go to the back now." Said the server.

"Fine cuisine? Good manners?" Said Rose.

"My watch must be off." The Doctor muttered. He tapped the chronometer on his wrist, but it continued to display the same date. "No, still working. That's weird. But hey, judging a period's food from the kebab shops is like judging its literature from the fan fiction."

"Or your history's a bit out." Rose grinned.

"My history's perfect."

Rose just gave him an amused smirk.

Adam noticed something else. "They're all human. What about the millions of planets. The millions of species. Where are they?"

They looked around. Indeed, the entire crowd around them were human. Some of them wore slightly odd clothing combinations (though Rose was glad she hadn't seen any of the spandex suits from the old future comics.) Plus the hairstyles had gone through several transitions in the space of 198,000 years. But they still looked human.

"Good question. Actually, that is a good question." Said the Doctor.

Adam smiled, glad that he'd finally said something useful.

The Doctor decided to move on. "Adam, my old mate. You must be starving."

"No, I'm just a bit time sick."

"Well, let's get some grub in you." He put his arm round the man and led him to the counter. "You there, how much is a kron burger?"

"Two credits." Said the server. "Now join the que."

"Money." Said the Doctor. "Let's use a cash point."

He found a hole in the wall and waved his sonic over it. It promptly spat out a perspex bar, which he handed to Adam. "Here you go, pocket money. Don't spend it all at once."

Adam turned the bar over in his hands. "But how does it work?"

"Go and find out! Stop nagging me. The thing is. Time travel's like visiting France. You can't just read the guidebook. You've got to throw yourself in. Use the wrong verb. Get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers. Or is that just me? Stop asking questions and go and find out!" He waved his companions off towards the burger vans. "Off you go, your first date!"

"You're gonna get a smack, you are." Said Rose.

The Doctor just grinned. The moment they'd turned away. He took on a more serious attitude. He cast around the hall for the most authoritive person present. His eyes settled on a woman in a light business suit, with dreadlocks, who was talking to a woman in a flowery blouse. Their conversation had a very _This is very important, we have to get it sorted out after lunch._ sort of feel.

"Excuse me, this is gonna sound daft. But can you tell me where I am?" He asked her.

"Floor 139." Said the woman in the suit, gesturing to a massive sign on the wall. "Could they write it any bigger?"

"Floor 139 of what?"

She rolled her eyes. "Must've been one big party you had."

"You're on Satellite 5." Said the flowery girl, who was looking at him with a slightly gooey-eyed expression.

"And Satellite 5 is?"

"Oh come on!" Said the dreadlocked girl. "How could you get on board without knowing where you were?"

"Look at me, I'm stupid." The Doctor grinned.

"Hold on." Said flowery girl, seemingly struggling to remember some words. "Is this a test? Some kind of... management test kind of thing?"

"You're too clever for me." He smiled, waving the psychic paper at them.

"We were warned about it in basic training." Said flowery girl. All workers have to be versed in company promotion.

Dreadlocks woman brightened at this news. "Right. Fire away, ask me what you want to know. If it gets me to floor 500, I'll do anything."

"Why? What happens on floor 500." Said the Doctor.

She smiled, assuming this was part of the test. "The floors are made of gold. And you should know, Mr. management. Let me show you what we do."

She led the Doctor over to a display of TV screens. "24 hour news." She indicated to several screens in turn. "Sandstorms on the Venus archipelago. 200 dead. Glasgow water riots into their third day. Space lane 37 closed by sunspot activity. And over on the Bad Wolf channel, the Face of Boe had just announced he's pregnant."

"I get it. You broadcast the news." Said The Doctor.

"We are the news. We write it, package it and sell it. 600 channels, all coming out of Satellite 5. Broadcasting everywhere."

* * *

Up on floor 500, the editor sat back in his chair, idly brushing some frost off of his suit.

Glancing up at the security screens, he spotted something which didn't hold true. He stood up to address it, inwardly cursing the loss of a good afternoon practicing dramatic laughs.

"Something's wrong." He told the nearest operative. "Something fictional."

He pointed to the screen, where the journalists were talking to a man in leather. "Those people, wouldn't you think." The man gave no response. He hadn't said anything since the day he'd first taken this job. Not that it hindered the editor's fun. "Security check. Go deep."

* * *

Rose and Adam had found a stand resembling a Chinese take away. He'd ordered Heyes chow mein, simply because it was the most familiar sounding thing on the menu. He had no idea what animal the meat came from, except that it was purple. He was yet to take a bite.

Next to him, Rose was idly sipping from a straw cup. "You should try this." She said. "It's like one of those, whatdycallem? Slush puppies."

Adam sniffed the cup. "What flavour?"

Rose had another sip. "I think beef."

Adam winced. "It's like everything's gone. Everything I knew."

Rose could sympathise, she'd felt the same way when she first set off. "This helps." She pulled out her phone, which she'd installed a more sci-fiish cover on. "Who's back home, your mum and dad?"

"Er, yeah."

"Phone 'em up."

"But that's 198,000 years ago."

"Trust me on this."

He looked at the phone she'd handed him. "Is there a code for planet Earth?"

"Just dial." Rose was fast getting fed up with his inability to accept the world around him.

Adam sighed and dialled his home number. To his amazement, the answering machine came on. "Hello, we're not in right now, please leave a message."

"Er, hi Mum. Just phoning to say... I've gone travelling. I met these people and we went travelling for a bit. I'll see you when I get back." He rung off. "That is incredible!" Finally, a note of delight issued from the man.

Somewhere overhead, a bugle sounded and the lunchers all promptly stood up from their tables. Time to head back to work.

"Oy, Mutt and Geoff. Over here." Called the Doctor, standing with the two women, who'd introduced themselves as Cathaca and Suki.

Rose promptly moved over to him. Adam was held up briefly by a woman with ribbons in her hair. As he followed Rose, he realised that he still had her phone. He was about to point this out when a thought occurred to him and he discretely pocketed it.

* * *

_"Security check completed."_ Said the computer. _"No breaches."_

"No. Something's wrong. I can taste it." Sighed the editor. He turned to the nearest operative. "Double check." He turned to the next. "Tipple check." The operatives gave no response and continued pressing buttons. That was the way he liked them. Obedient and efficient. They also maintained a constant, cold zombie-like expression. It meant that they were poor conversation, but the editor could talk for hours with them.

On the screen, the group were heading for a nearby door.

"Follow them." Said the editor.

* * *

The room the time travellers were led to was much cleaner than the rest of the ship, complete with immaculate white walls. In the centre, stood a raised platform, with what appeared to be a dentist's chair in the middle, with a very strange machine positioned above. Eight people were sat on cushions round the base.

"Ok everyone, please behave. We have a management inspection." Said Cathaca. She turned to the Doctor. "How would you like this, by the book?"

"I prefer to write from scratch." He replied.

"We'll proceed as normal then." She turned back to the others. "Ok ladies, gentlemen, multisex, undecided and robots. My name is Cathaca Santeene Zadade. And that's Cathaca with a C, in case you want to write to floor 500 praising me... And please do." She grinned, in a thin attempt to hide her keenness.

"Now everyone, please feel free to ask any questions. The process of news gathering must be open, honest and unbiased. That's company policy." She smiled at the Doctor again.

Suki put her hand up. "A-actualy, um, it's the law."

"Yes, thank you Suki." Cathaca said stiffly. "Now, let's proceed as normal. Don't show off for the guests." She stepped up to the platform and sat back in the chair. "Engage safety."

A series of beeps and whirs sounded as the machine sprang to life. The people round the edge each placed their hands on the palm print readers in front of them and closed their eyes. Cathaca snapped her fingers. A whir sounded from her forehead, followed by a panel irising open, pulling apart her skin along seams that they had never noticed earlier. A second later, a second panel opened up. This time through her skull, revealing a hole leading to her brain.

"And 3, 2," she said nonchalantly, "and spike."

A pulse of energy shot down from the device above her and connected with the hole in her head. She closed her eyes and went motionless. Around her, the rest of the team did the same.

The future technology and the lack of response from the locals made Adam slightly queezy. Looking to his left, he was glad to see that Rose wasn't feeling much better, though she was doing a much better job of going with things.

"Compressed packets of information." The Doctor explained. "Reports from every city and every country, neatly packaged and put inside her head. She becomes part of the system. Her brain is the computer."

"If all that's getting put inside her head, she must be a genius." Said Rose.

The Doctor shook his head. "She won't remember it. She couldn't or her head would explode. Her brain's the processor. Soon as it closes she forgets."

"What about these people, round the edge?" Rose pointed at Suki.

"They've all got tiny chips in their heads, connecting them to her. Transmitting 800 channels. Every single fact in the empire gets beamed out of this place... Now that's what I call power."

* * *

"_Analysis confirmed."_ Said the computer. "_Security breach."_

"I knew it!" Declared the editor. "Someone in that room." He turned to one of the operatives, picking an icicle from the man's hair as he did so. "But who? Show me."

"_Isolating breach."_

The security screen panned over the room, passing over each person in turn. It briefly followed a blond haired girl as she circled the device.

"Come on." The editor moaned.

* * *

"You alright?" Rose asked. Adam had barely moved since the spike had activated.

"I can see her brain." He said simply.

"You'll get used to it." She reassured him, though she was beginning to doubt if he would.

"No, I'm ok." He said quickly. "This technology's amazing.

"This technology's wrong." Said the Doctor, with a serious voice.

"Trouble?" Said Rose.

"Oh yeah." The two of them smiled. Adam thought they must be nuts.

* * *

"Ha!" Declared the editor. "That's her, she's the liar!" The security screen zoomed in on the face of Suki.

* * *

A small zap and Suki yanked her hands away in shock. The machinery promptly powered down.

"Oh, come on Suki, I was only halfway! What was that for?" Cried Cathaca, as the front of her head closed up again.

"Sorry." She said sheepishly.

* * *

"Her information's been tampered with." The editor explained to the stupefied woman operating the system. There's a second layer of history underneath."

A series of growls and snarls came from above him, which he'd long learnt to interpret perfectly.

"Yes, I'm aware of that sir..." He nervously explained to his superior. "Her information was encrypted, so there's no way we could have found out sooner." He listened politely to their response. "I'm deeply sorry. Just sorting that out now."

"Get her up here." He told the operatives. "Now."

* * *

A big screen on the wall lit up and an automated voice announced, "_Promotion..._"

Most of the workers paid only mild attention, but Cathaca was on the edge of her seat. "Come on. This is it! Let it be me. Please say my name. Say my name."

_"Promotion for... Suki Kare Mantrell._" Said the voice. "_Please proceed to floor 500_."

"I don't believe it." She gasped. "Floor 500!"

"How did you manage that, I'm above you!" Said Cathaca, doing little to hide her frustration.

"I don't know, I just applied on the off chance. And they said yes!"

"What's Floor 500?" Said Rose.

"The walls are made of gold." Said the Doctor. "Apparently."

* * *

In less than half an hour, Suki had her bag packed and was stood outside the lift. "Cathaca, I'm going to miss you." She turned to the Doctor and threw her arms out. "Floor 500! Thank you."

"I never did anything." He said.

"You're my lucky charm." She smiled.

He shrugged. "Oh well, hug anyone once." And he did so.

Rose, meanwhile, had gone to talk to Adam, who was keeping his distance.

"You alright?"

"There's a hole in her head." He replied.

"Yeah, but she's closed it up now."

"It's not just that it's... It's everything. If I could just... Cool down a bit." He took a deep breath. "It might help if I just sat on the observation deck for a bit. Soak up some local colour. Pretend I'm a citizen of the year 200,000."

"Do you want me to join you?"

Adam tried to look as though he wanted her around. "No, it's fine. You stick with the Doctor." She barely batted an eyelid. "You'd rather be with him, wouldn't you? Yeah. It's going to take a better man than me to come between you two. Anyway... If you need me, I'll be on the deck."

"Right." Said Rose. "Here." She reached into her pocket. "Take the TARDIS key, just in case it gets a bit too much."

"Yeah, like it's not weird in there."

He turned to go. The moment he had his back to them, he grinned manically. They'd bought it. Now he just needed to find a computer terminal.

Suki looked at her watch. "Oh my gosh, I can't keep them waiting!" She grabbed her bag and hurried into the lift. "Say goodbye to Steve for me!" She waved as the doors shut. "Bye!"

"Good riddance." Muttered Cathaca.

"She's only going upstairs. You're talking like you'll never see her again." Said the Doctor.

"We won't. Once you go to floor 500, you never come back."

"Have you ever been up there?"

"Can't. You need a special key for the lifts and you only get it with promotion. No one ever gets to floor 500 except for the chosen few."

* * *

Suki paced the lifts with a sense of nervous excitement as she watched the numbers climb steadily higher. 300... 400... 450... 475... 490... 500.

Finally the doors opened up. But the scene she stepped out into wasn't a world made of gold. Instead, the whole place stank of decay and dereliction. Plus, it was so cold, snow was falling, in complete contrast to the hot stuffiness of the rest of the ship. Even greater in terms of contrast, was the silence. Down below, you were rarely more than 10 metres from somebody else, and there was a constant background hum of activity. Here, there was just utter deathly silence.

Behind her, she heard a slam as the lift doors closed. She rushed forward and tried to wrench them apart, but it was too late. No going back now.


	2. The Top Of The Ladder

**Chapter 2: The Top Of The Ladder**

* * *

Suki pulled a torch from her bag and shone it around. She also pulled out several more shirts and pulled them on over the this blouse she was wearing. It had been so hot in the rest of the ship that she'd never bothered to carry warm clothes.

She spun the torch around the room, creating a small circle of light anywhere she pointed it. All she seemed to find though, was frost-covered rust.

She stood still for a moment and listened for any sound. Eventually, she heard a low whirr of machinery and followed it over to a wall, where she found massive air conditioning ducts channelling all the hot air out of the room. They looked like the only machines on the floor properly maintained.

She swept the room again. Spotting a more intact structure, she made for it. Once she'd got a bit closer, she saw that it was an information spike, like the one downstairs. It even had a figure in each position, slumped over.

"Excuse me." She prodded the nearest one, then quickly retracted her hand. The person in the chair was a skeleton, they all were.

On the far side of the room, a door opened and light flooded in. She doubted it would be safe but she had nowhere else to go.

The room was barely cleaner than the last one. But it did have a working computer bank to one side. Half a dozen operatives were sat at various stations, frozen from the cold, with their brains barely ticking over, but the chips in their heads still allowing them to operate the system.

At the end, a man was stood, grinning evilly.

"Er, w-what's going on? Who are you?" Said Suki.

"I'm the editor." The man explained.

"There are bodies out there."

"Yep." He grinned.

"What's going on?"

"While we're asking questions, could you please confirm your name?"

He didn't wait for a response, he simply pulled up a holloscreen, displaying Siki's application video. "My name is Suki Macre Cantrell. I was born 199'89 in the Independent Republic of Morocco." Said the past Suki.

"Liar!" Declared the editor.

"My hobbies include reading and archaeology." The video continued.

"Liar!" He said again.

"I want to work for Satellite 5 because... My sister can't afford university. And the pay scheme is really good!"

"Liar! Liar! Liar! Let's look at the facts shall we?" He snapped his fingers. A new vid came up. Now showing a very different Suki in combat fatigues advancing through the Sahara Forest with fury in her eyes as she machine-gunned some off-screen enemy. "Ah, that's more like it. Hidden behind a genetic graft. Eva Sanjulien. Last surviving member of the Freedom 15. Self-declared anarchist, is that right?"

For a moment, she considered telling him he'd made a mistake. But it was only for a moment. Forging documents and bluffing interviewers was simple enough. It was how they'd survived as they battled their way across the Earth, trying desperately to warn the population that their lives were being controlled by outside influences. But going undercover in a massive corporation like this meant fooling a computer that was actually connected to your brain. It was too much to hope for that any of them could escape unnoticed, they'd all known they were as good as dead the moment their leader had decided to strike at the heart of the beast. But it would all be for the greater good.

Well, at least one of them had made it this far. She pulled out her gun. "Who controls Satellite 5?" She said, with no hint of the awkwardness she'd displayed when she'd been Suki.

The editor went wide eyed and raised his hands. But then he burst out laughing. No point in playing this game. They both knew which of them was stood a chance of coming out of this situation alive.

"The Freedom 15 have been monitoring Satellite 5's transmissions." Eva continued, unperturbed. "We have absolute proof that the facts are being manipulated. You are lying to the people!"

The editor sniggered. "I like it, say it again."

"This whole system is corrupt." She advanced to place the barrel less than a metre from his face. "Who do you represent?"

"I'm merely a humble slave." He shrugged. "I answer to the editor in chief."

"Who is he?"

"He's above me, overseeing everything. Quite literally in fact. If you don't mind, I'm going to have to refer this upwards." He snapped his fingers and pointed to the ceiling.

Eva's first response was to sigh and give him a _How dumb do you think I am?_ look. But a low growl from the direction he was pointing convinced her to look.

The moment she saw what was above them, Eva lost her cool. "What above Earth is that?"

"That's your boss," the editor replied, "that's always been your boss. From the day you were born."

The creature descended upon her. She quickly unloaded all her magazine onto it but the plasma bolts had little effect. All she had left to do was scream.

* * *

Adam had another gaze over at the sparkling view of the planet below. But that wasn't what he'd come to the observation deck to see. He'd come here because this was the nearest room he could remember seeing a computer terminal.

He could see no evidence of buttons, just a handprint. Nervously, he put his hand in place. Nothing happened. "Er, give me access?" He said. A mass of shapes and symbols flew across the screen. He noticed a few words, but none in languages he could understand. Well that was rubbish. How was anyone supposed to operate this thing?

But a second later, he felt an incredible surge in his head as the computer connected with his brainwaves. He promptly pulled his hand away in shock. But then grinned. The system had been in his mind, and it was all so clear. Now he knew how to access information from millennia into mankind's future.

He replaced his hand and felt the system hook up again. Now his thoughts could operate it. He took a moment to consider what to look up. For some reason, time travellers in films always chose to look up sports results as a get-rich-quick scheme. But that was short-sighted and under-ambitious. The fasted way to set yourself up for life was to pioneer a new technology. With some future information, he could get ahead of whoever invented the next great break through and become the richest man in the world. Perhaps even make it into the history books. Besides, how did he know that it hadn't been him the first time around? _Ok. He thought. Give me the history of the microprocessor. From 2012 to the present day._

* * *

It's important to have clear goals, that's what Cathaca had always been told, and her goal had been as clear as you could get. You merely had to look up at the brightest glow in the night sky. Satellite 5 hung up there, like some heavenly figure, watching and guiding mankind. The top floor was the highest anyone on Earth and above could climb and she'd strived all her life to get there.

She'd believed that the system would work for her if she followed the system efficiently, but the system kept being unfair. She'd seen her classmates match most of her university marks, despite having done bugger all revision. She'd applied for years to get onto Satellite 5's team of roving reporters, down on Earth, only to discover that others had been offered a job the first time they'd applied, without even being interviewed. And the pattern still continued, even after she'd worked her way up to the satellite itself. Everyone around her kept getting promoted above her. Her performance today still hadn't been enough to convince this Doctor, and it only frustrated her more when he followed her back her station, bombarding her with more questions.

"Can't you give it a rest?" She said to him, as she checked the outputs on the machine. "We only get twenty minutes for maintenance."

But the Doctor was insistent "Have you never been to another floor?"

And now his questions were getting even more frivolous. "Went down to floor 16 when I first got here, to get my head done. After that, I never needed to. You eat, work and sleep, all on the same floor." The same floor she'd been stuck on for the past two years since she kept getting passed over for promotion. It was always the new guys who got all the attention. Even today, this Doctor had somehow been more impressed by Suki than by her... Except that he couldn't have been. He'd never had time to report to floor 500. "You're not really management, are you?"

He grinned "At last, she's clever."

"Yeah, well, whatever it is, don't involve me, I don't know anything."

"Don't you even ask?"

"Why would I?"

"You're a journalist!" That last comment got her attention. "Why's all the crew human?"

She blinked. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"There's no aliens on board. Why?"

She pondered for a moment. "Dunno. No real reason. They aren't banned or anything."

"Then where are they?"

"...I suppose immigration's tightened up. It's had to with all the threats."

"What threats?"

"Dunno, all of them. Usual stuff. And the price of space warp doubled so that kept the visitors away. Oh, and the government on Chafic 5 collapsed so that kept the visitors away. Just... lots of little reasons."

"Adding up to one great fact, and you didn't even notice."

Now this man was beginning to seem like a conspiracy nut. The kind who believed that the expedition to the centre of the sun had been faked in a studio. "I'm sure if there was some sort of plot going on, Satellite 5 would have seen it." She explained calmly. "We see everything."

"I see better." Said the Doctor. "This society's the wrong shape. Even the technology."

"It's cutting edge!" She waved at the spike above his head.

"It's backwards! There's a great big door in your head. You should've chucked it out years ago."

"So what do you think's going on?" Said Rose. It was what the Doctor liked about her. She was smart enough never to take things at face value.

"It's not just the technology, it's the people. The way they think. Something's stunted the human race, holding it back.

"And how would you know?" Said Cathaca.

"Trust me. I know. Something's set this planet back about 90 years. When did Satelite 5 begin broadcasting?"

Cathaca paused. "91 years ago." Now she was beginning to see that there may be some truth in the Doctor's theory.

* * *

Adam had phoned up his mum's answering machine again. "Mum. Keep this message. Whatever you do. Save it. Don't erase it."

He accessed the computer once more. The information about computer history returned to his mind. But something wasn't right. The information came but it was sketchy, and came in fits and starts, like trying to make a phone call with one bar of signal. Nonetheless, he read what he could find. "The microprocessor became redundant in the year 2019. Replaced by something called SMT. That's single... molecule..." The information abruptly withdrew itself from his mind.

"What did you do that for?" He shouted, kicking the machine.

A message flashed up on the screen in English, which just read _Floor 16._

"What's floor 16?" He asked.

* * *

**Author's notes: Sorry about the abrupt cut off. I try to end every chapter with some kind of cliff hanger but I couldn't find anything cliff hangery around the halfway point of the episode.**


	3. Corruption

**Chapter 3: Corruption**

_"Floor 16"_ Announced the lift. The doors opened onto a long white room lined with desks. Looking around, Adam didn't think it looked like IT support. More like a doctor's waiting room, complete with public information posters and leaflets reading _You don't have to be embarrassed about polycarbide implants._

He walked past a series of desks, overhearing snatches of conversations with people suffering from space sickness, robophobia and flu. Finally, he found a doctor with no-one sitting at her station.

"Can I help you?" She said.

"Well, I was directed down here." He replied. "What's down here?"

"Floor 16. Non-emergency medical." She replied.

"Well it might be a mistake... I've been having trouble accessing a screen."

"No. That's medical. It's probably a problem with your chip."

"Ah... Well... I don't have a chip."

She rolled her eyes. No doubt, he was one of those new age-types who refused to take implants, believing they could connect from their brainwaves alone, as if that was any more natural. His clothes did look a bit wacky after all. "What are you a... student?"

"Er, yeah. I'm on a research project from the university... of Mars."

"The Martian moon docks, typical." She sighed. Well that explained everything.

"Yep." He smiled. He seemed surprisingly enthusiastic about having gone to one of the system's cheapest universities.

"Well you still need chipping."

"So... Does that mean, like... brain surgery?"

The doctor gave him a look, similar to one a doctor in his own time would have given if he'd asked about bad blood. "It's an old fashioned term, but I suppose it's a similar thing." She said tactfully.

He didn't like the sound of that. But it was the only way his idea would ever work. "And this would mean I could access any computer?"

"Yes. It would need to be paid for, they've stopped subsidising."

"Oh, well. I'm a bit stuck there. Sorry to waste your time." He stood up to leave. As he did, he felt something move in his pocket. He pulled out the credit bar the Doctor had given him earlier. "Hold on..." He said to the medical doctor. "What about this?"

She took the bar and scanned it. A smile crossed her face. A fool and his money, she knew, were even easier to separate when he has too much to cope with. "That will do nicely."

* * *

Adam looked around the surgery as the woman ran a scanner over his head. The woman was so matter of fact about this whole process that he was forcing himself not to show any signs of how frightened he was by it.

"There are two basic types of chip." The doctor explained. "Your basic head chip." She held up something on the tip of her finger. "100 credits. Back of the scull. No scaring. Or there's the full info spike."

"Er that's the..." Not wanting to use the incorrect verbs again, Adam simply mimed the front of his head irising open.

"It does cost 10,000 credits." The woman explained.

"Ah, well. Couldn't afford it." He said, glad of a more plausible sounding reason.

"Actually, according to the system, this bar contains unlimited credits." She smiled.

Adam raised an eyebrow, wondering how a currency system can work that essentially prints infinity pound notes. But he had more pressing problems. "Wouldn't it hurt?"

"Painless. Company guarantee."

"Yeah... but... my mates are waiting upstairs. I couldn't have major surgery."

"Takes 10 minutes." She replied. "This sort of money buys a very fast pico-surgeon."

Adam supposed that made sense. Medical methods must have advanced a lot in 200,000 years. After all, several millennia before his time it had barely reached the hammer-a-hole-in-his-head-with-a-pointy-stone stage.

"Yeah... but..." He cast around hopelessly for further excuses.

Fortunately, the doctor could recognise silicophobia when she saw it. She had a final line which never failed to overcome their squeamishness and sell the most expensive model. "The basic chip allows you to interface with a basic computer. With the info spike... You are the computer. You can connect with any system and transmit any information contained in Satelite 5. Which just happens to be the entire history of the human race. So, which is it going to be?"

* * *

Catheca looked nervously down the hallway. She was already breaking regulations by bunking off work. Now, she was turning a blind eye to criminal activity! But then, the Doctor would never be able to open the locks he was fiddling with without a key.

Or so she thought, one wave of his sonic and the wall panels flew open, exposing a complex arrangement of cables and circuits.

"You can't touch the mainframe, we'll get told off!" She hissed at him.

"Rose, tell her to button it." Said the Doctor, not looking up from his work.

"But you can't just vandalise these things, somebody's going to notice!"

* * *

Somebody had noticed, but the editor had bigger concerns than petty vandalism.

"I don't understand." He said, watching the security footage. "We did a full scan _that man_ was there when we found Eva Sanjulien. And yet here he is. Acting outside the parameters. What do you make of that?" This last question was aimed at Eva, who had now replaced the operative on the end of the row, who's chip had been wearing thin. He'd now been placed on the table by the door, where other worn out workers had been arranged to look like they were playing poker.

A series of growls and squelches from above told him that this oversight wasn't boding well for him. "I understand sir, we're looking into it." He turned back to the operatives. "Check him." He said to Eva. "Double check him." He said to the next person. "Triple check him." He said to the third. "Quadruple check him." He said to the fourth.

* * *

Catheca had had enough. "I can't be dealing with this, I've got to get back to work."

"Fine. See ya." Said the Doctor.

She tried to march off dramatically. Halfway down the corridor, she faltered and had to turn back. "Well I can't just leave you!"

"If you want to do something useful," said Rose, "get them to turn the heating down, its boiling in here."

"We've told them a few times, it's something to do with the turbines."

""Something to do with the turbines."" The Doctor mocked.

"Well I don't know!"

"Oh, I give up on you Catheca! See, look at Rose here. Rose is asking the right questions. Why's it so hot?"

She waved her arms in frustration. "One minute you're worried about the empire, the next it's the central heating!"

"Central heating could be the key to the whole thing. Never underestimate the plumbing." He yanked a bolt free, only to discover that it was attached to the clip for a series of cables, which promptly snapped, leaving him with their sparking ends clutched in his hand.

Catheca wondered why she hadn't extricated herself from this situation yet.

* * *

_"Security scan complete."_ Said the computer.

"The editor clapped in anticipation. "So go on, who is he then?"

_"He is no-one."_

The editor paused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

_"He is no-one."_

"You mean he has a fake ID?"

"_He has no identification_"

The editor waved his hands at the screens before him. "We've got a census of every being in the empire. How can he have no ID? What about the girl?"

"_She is no-one too_."

He let out a burst of air, forming condensation in front of him. But then he shrugged. This little quandary could be very easily solved. "You know what happens to non-entities?" He said to the operative in the middle. "They get promoted. Bring them up."

* * *

The Doctor had rewired some cables attached to a computer terminal. Unlike the others he'd seen, this one had buttons attached, he supposed it must be a slightly newer model. "There you go." He showed it to Catheca. "Ventilation readout for Satellite 5."

Catheca's eyes went wide. "You've got access to the mainframe for the entire station! You could look at anything. Stock exchange, political records... And you're looking at pipes?"

"Something's seriously wrong with the pipes though." Said the Doctor, tapping a readout Rose couldn't understand, though Catheca could.

"Turbines, ventilators, all working flat out." Said the journalist. "Channelling massive amounts of heat away from the top floor. That's why it's so hot." It was a little known fact, even in this day and age, that outer space is actually incredibly hot, making ventilating a space station exceedingly difficult.

"Something up there's generating massive amounts of heat." Said the Doctor.

"Well, if there's a party going on up there, I say we should go join in." Rose grinned.

"But you can't." Said Cathaca. "You need a special key."

"I've got the key right here." Said the Doctor. He reached for the screen, but fell short as he saw numbers flashing up of their own accord.

"That's the access code!" Said Catheca. "Why's it given it to you?"

The Doctor looked up to a point where he really shouldn't have known there was a camera. "Someone up there likes me."

* * *

Adam looked at himself in the mirror. He looked no different. He felt no different.

"What did I tell you?" Said the doctor. "Painless. No scaring."

"How do I... activate it?" He asked nervously.

"It's a personal choice. Some whistle. Some clap. I know one man who triggers it with _Oh Danny Boy_. You're set to default for now. That's a click of the fingers."

Adam clicked his fingers. A door in his forehead irised open, giving him a clear view into his own brain. Hesitantly, he reached up to put his hand over the hole, though he wasn't stupid enough to put his finger through it. He could feel a door, leading into his head. He clicked again and the hole closed up. leaving no mark.

He abruptly realised that he was going to be sick and pitched forward onto the floor, heaving his guts out. But somehow the contents never reached his mouth, instead, something hard and cold tapped against the back of his teeth. He spat the object into a nearby bucket. It was a frozen, brown lump.

"Due to a special offer." The doctor explained. "We also installed the vomit-o-matic. Nano-termites in your throat, compress the contents and freeze it." She peered at the lump and wondered just what this man had been eating.

Adam, meanwhile, was trying very hard not to be sick again.

* * *

The Doctor stepped into the lift and keyed in the code he'd been given. Behind him, Rose was calling Catheca to join them. "I thought you wanted to see floor 500?"

"Look, this is just too far over my head... just... don't mention me... I shouldn't be involved here." She summoned all her will, turned and walked away for good.

"Well, she's out. Adam's bolted. Guess it's just you and me then." Said the Doctor.

"Perfect." Grinned Rose.

* * *

"Well." Said the Doctor. "The walls certainly aren't made of gold." They peered nervously round the derelict freezer Eva had found herself in. He turned back to his companion. "You should go back downstairs."

"Tough." Said Rose, and marched past him to have a further look round. The Doctor sighed and went to follow her. One of these days, she'd follow him into danger once too often.

They found the editor peering at his screens, looking contemplative. "I started without you." He grinned, then chuckled. "You really are fascinating. Satellite 5 has records of everything in the human race. Birth certificates, employment, shopping habits... But you two? You don't exist! No birth, no job... How can a man walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?"

Before the Doctor could respond, Rose spotted something. "Suki!" She ran over to the woman, but Eva didn't respond. She tried shaking her arm and waving her hand in front of her face, but nothing seemed to affect her. "What've you done to her?"

"I think she's dead." Said the Doctor.

"But she's... working?" Rose motioned to the computer terminal that was clearly being opperated by Eva's palms.

"They've all got chips in their heads and the chips are still going. Like puppets."

"Oh!" The editor smiled. "You're full of information! I think it's fair we get some information back. Because apparently you're no-one."

The Doctor nodded. That was a fair assessment wherever he went.

"Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter, 'cos we're off. Nice meeting you. Come on Rose." The Doctor turned to leave, but two men by the door stood up from their poker game and grabbed him.

Rose rushed to help but Eva grabbed her arm.

"Let's try again then." Said the editor. "Who are you?"

"Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly likely to tell you am I?" The Doctor responded.

The editor shrugged. "Well, perhaps I should defer this to the editor in chief."

"Oh yeah? And who's that then?"

"It may interest you to know that this is not the fourth great and bountiful human empire. In fact, it's not even human. It's merely a place where humans happen to live..." He cut off suddenly as another series of growls and squelches sounded from above. "Sorry, are allowed to live, by kind permission of my boss."

"What on earth is that?" Said Rose, following the sound.

They each looked skywards. Hanging there above them, unnoticed by any blissfully ignorant person who wasn't prompted to look up, was a huge slimy blob creature. It had no eyes, or any kind of appendages at all, save for a massive mouth, lined with two foot long fangs. But somehow, it gave off an air of an evil genius that had been leading humans to the slaughter for decades.

"That thing's in charge of Satellite 5?" Said the Doctor.

"That _thing_" Said the editor, with a hint of annoyance. "is in charge of the human race. For nearly 100 years, mankind has been shaped and guided. Its knowledge and ambitions strictly controlled by our broadcast news. Edited by my superior, your master, and humanity's guiding light: The Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe." He grinned. It had taken him over a dozen attempts to memorise the name. "I call him Max."


	4. The Evicted Companion

**Chapter 4: The Evicted Companion**

Cathaca returned to the spike room and resumed her work. She'd shaken off the interfering Doctor and now she could return to her nice ordered life. It couldn't be much longer now before somebody upstairs noticed her effort. She could finally realise her dream of moving to floor 500. Where the walls were made of gold... And a massive conspiracy was underway if this Doctor was to be believed. No! She couldn't allow herself to believe that everything she'd worked towards was a lie, but she somehow couldn't undo the seed of doubt that the Doctor had planted. After all it would explain so much...

_No _she reminded herself again. He had nothing to go on but an unusual heating layout. Massive corporate conspiracies just didn't happen, not in real life. She couldn't become paranoid. She sighed and got on with her work.

Five minutes later, she got up and went to the door. Just outside, her eye was caught by a flurry of movement, as Adam spotted her and ducked behind a table.

Ignoring him, she headed for the area the Doctor had vandalised earlier. As she'd hoped, the key to floor 500 was still displayed.

Even as she keyed the code into the lift, she wasn't sure why she was doing this, whether she simply wished to put her mind at rest, or whether she was finally choosing to step outside the system. She supposed whatever she saw would answer that.

* * *

361 floors above her, the editor had manacled the Doctor and Rose to some device. He'd decided to take this opportunity to lecture them about the ingenuity of the Jagrefesse's hold over humanity.

"Create a climate of fear and it's easy to keep the borders closed. It's just a matter of emphasis. The right word at the right time can... destabilise an economy... change a vote. create a new public enemy... All to keep them in line."

"So the human race are, like, slaves?" Said Rose.

He chuckled. "Well there's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave, if he doesn't know he's a slave?"

"Yes." The Doctor replied, matter of factly.

The editor pouted. "And I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm gonna' get "Yes."?"

"Yes."

"You're no fun."

"Remove these manacles and you'll find out just how much fun I am."

The editor ignored this last comment. "But you have to admit, it's a great system. Got to admire it. Just a little?"

"You can't operate something on this scale." Said Rose. "Someone must have noticed."

He waved his hand over the row of operators. "From time to time yes. But their chips allow me to see inside their brains. I can see the smallest doubt. And crush it!"

Catheca stepped out of the lift. As with the others, the first thing that struck her was the cold and the dereliction. Not made of gold then. So the Doctor was right. She still had the option to go down. But she couldn't just return to her life now, she had to see if there was anything she could do about it.

Dodging around the skeletons guarding the information spike, she made her way to the far door and peered round. Inside, she saw the Doctor chained up and talking to a man who appeared to be deeply loving this situation.

"...and then they just continue their lives," the editor was explaining, "strutting about up here and on the earth below like they're _so_ individual. But they're not. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn't changed a thing."

The Doctor glanced over in Catheca's direction, making eye contact briefly, before looking away. Somehow, she knew he was advising her to remain where she was just a little longer.

"What about you?" Said Rose. "You're not a Jagra... belly. Er Jagra..."

"Jagrafess." The Doctor finished.

"Jagrafess. You're not Jagrafess. You're human."

"Being human doesn't pay very well." The editor shrugged.

"But you can't be doing this all on your own."

"No." He laughed. "I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long term investment. Also Max needed help to... er... install itself."

"No wonder, a creature that size." Said the Doctor. "What's its lifespan?"

"3000 years."

"A thing like that must generate masses and masses of heat. That's why you've got the air vents set up that way. You channel the heat downwards, keep this floor cool, keep it alive. Satellite 5 becomes a massive life support system." This last comment, he directed in Catheca's direction.

* * *

Adam hauled himself into Catheca's chair as he rung up his home number once more. "Whatever you do, don't delete this message. It's just gonna' sound like white noise, but I can translate." He placed the phone down by his head without ringing off and snapped his fingers. "3, 2, 1. And spike."

Had he taken a moment to think things through, he may have remembered that Catheca had been doing this sort of thing for years and still required six people to control the outflow of information. He may also have pondered why a phone from 2005 would be able to transmit everything to the twenty-first century, it was only by an incredible stroke of luck that it worked. But his mind had blotted all of this out. The possibility of returning home to find all the information humanity would accumulate in 198,000 years was too tempting a prize. Naturally, the moment the info-spike hit his brain, the first sensation he experienced was intense pain.

The answering machine in his house in 2012 lit up with an intense blue aura, much to the dog's alarm.

* * *

"That's why you're so dangerous." Said the editor. "You're unknown. But we can soon fix that." He snapped his fingers. A series of impulses transmitted from the manacles, sending intense pain coursing through the time travellers. "Who are you?"

"Let her go." The Doctor gasped, once the pain had subsided. "I'm the Doctor, she's Rose Tyler. We're nobody, just passing through."

"Tell me who you are!"

"I just said!"

"Yeah, but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who else knows about us? If you can't tell me..." He cut off as a voice came in his earpiece. Suddenly, his face lit up. "Timelord."

"What?"

"The last of the Timelords. And his human girl from long ago."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

The editor grinned manically. "Time travel."

"Someone's been telling you lies."

"Young Adam Mitchell?" He snapped his fingers. A holoscreen came up, displaying Adam, sat beneath the spike, screaming in agony.

"His head!" Said Rose.

"What've you done?" Said the Doctor. "What's he gone and done? That thing, it's reading his mind!"

"And through him, I know every little thing about you. Every thought in his head is now mine. And your knowledge, Doctor is infinite. The great and bountiful human empire is tiny compared to what you've seen in your T, A, R, D, I, S, TARDIS!"

"I'll die before I let you have it." The Doctor declared.

"Die all you like. I don't need you. I've got the key."

* * *

Blinded by the white hot pain that was shooting through his skull, Adam was barely aware of the magnetic scoop plucking the TARDIS key from his pocket, lifting it to dangle in front of his face.

* * *

"You and your boyfriends." The Doctor groaned at Rose.

"Today, we are the headlines." Said the editor, turning to gaze triumphantly at the monitors and the news screens, displaying all the people below. "We can stop the human race from ever developing. Complete control over time and space."

With the editor's back turned, the Doctor spoke at Catheca again. "And no-one's gonna' stop you 'cos you've bred a human race that doesn't ask questions. Stupid little slaves, they'll just walk right into the slaughter house if you say it's made of gold.

Suddenly, Catheca knew what she had to do. She marched into the next room and shoved the skeleton off the spike chair, with a quick apology.

"Disengage safety." She said, the lights around her lit up for the first time in 90 years. "Override floor 139."

* * *

The machine above Adam's head abruptly shut down, and the man collapsed. A minute more and his brains would have been scrambled to mush.

* * *

"Engage spike." Said Catheca. With much more experience controlling the machine than Adam, she was able to control only the systems she needed to, just as she needed them.

* * *

Sirens sounded and warning lights lit up all over the control panel.

"What's going on?" Said the editor. "Show me." He snapped his fingers. "Who's that?"

"That's Catheca!" Said Rose.

"And she's thinking!" Said the Doctor. Using what she knows. All that stuff I told her. The pipes, the filters. She's reversing it! See." He pointed over to the walls, where all the ice was melting and water was streaming down.

"Stop her!" The editor shouted at Eva. "Burn her brain!" When the woman showed a lack of response, he resorted to shouting "Come on!"

* * *

"Oh no you don't!" Said Catheca. "You should have promoted me years ago."

* * *

She diverted masses of power to the computer bank, blowing several fuses, and temporarily turning the gravity and inertia compensation off for the lower floors. The entire computer panel flashed and sparked and the operatives dropped off their stations.

The power surge also shorted Rose's manacles. With the Doctor still chained, she began searching for the sonic.

Above them, the Jagrafess was roaring louder and louder as Cathaca channelled all the heat up towards it.

"I-I'm trying sir. It's just, it's just not something we thought about... A member of staff with an idea!" The editor stammered. Desperately, he shoved Eva aside and took the controls himself, trying to lock her out. But he found the system severely damaged.

Rose looked over the device she'd never had in her hand until now. "What do I do?"

"Flick the switch!" Cried the Doctor.

She did as told. The telepathic circuits in the screwdriver, not used to reading Rose's mind, promptly set off some fire extinguishers, before adjusting to the frequency that would open the manacles.

"Oy, editor!" The Doctor said as he yanked the manacles free. "You want to bank on a certainty. Massive beast. Massive body. Massive bang! I can see the headlines." And with that, they fled the room.

The creature writhed and pulsated as though its insides were boiling. already, parts of it were splitting open, sending chunks flying across the room.

"If it's all the same to you sir, I'll resign. Bye then." Said the editor.

He made to leave, but something caught round his ankle, sending him sprawling to the floor. Looking down, he saw that it was Eva's right hand. He tried to kick it loose but the dead woman promptly grabbed him with her other hand. This wasn't possible! Surely! She was dead, he'd only kept her chip running for his own means. She shouldn't be able to rebel like this. "Let go of me!" He roared several times. But she only tightened her grip.

Up above, the creature screamed and wailed, but there was nothing it could do. It rapidly swelled to 500% of the size it had been a minute before. Finally, it exploded, burying everything in the room with its scalding hot remains.

* * *

The Doctor stepped up to Catheca and snapped his fingers, closing her head. He smiled in a way that said _Well done._

* * *

The residents of Satellite 5 were busy picking themselves up and piecing together the damage from the computers going down. It didn't help that all the screens had gone blank and no-one knew what was going on. But each person had a new sense of freedom, as though an oppressive influence had been lifted from their minds.

"We're just gonna' go. I hate tidying up." Said the Doctor.

"But you're gonna' have to stick around and explain it." Said Catheca. "No-one's going to believe me."

"People might start believing a lot of things." Said the Doctor. "Human race should accelerate. Back to normal."

"What about your friend?" She nodded towards the TARDIS, where Adam was stood, looking sheepish.

"He's not my friend." And with that, he went to confront the idiot who'd misused time travel and nearly got them killed.

"Look, don't..." Rose began. But one look from the Doctor told her that she should stay out of this.

"I'm alright now." Adam said as brightly as he could. "Much better." When the Doctor gave no response, he continued. "It all worked out for the best in the end, so... It's not _actually _my fault... really... 'cos, you were in charge. You know..."

The Doctor simply steered him into the TARDIS.

* * *

197,988 years earlier, the Doctor and Rose led a frightened looking Adam out into his living room.

"Home!" He said. "I never thought I'd see it. I thought you were gonna' dump me out of an airlock."

The Doctor folded his arms. "Is there something else you've not told me?"

"What?" Said Adam. "No. What would I be hiding?"

"The records of Satellite 5." Said the Doctor, walking over to the answering machine. "One second of this message could re-write human history." He waved his sonic over the machine, which promptly fizzed and sparked as the electronics fried.

"All sorted. See ya."

"What do you mean "see ya."?" Said Adam.

"As in bye."

"But... but what about me. You can't just leave me, I've got a chip type 2. My head opens!"

"What, like this?" He snapped his fingers. Adam's head promptly irised open.

"Stop that!" He clicked and the door shut, only for the Doctor to snap his fingers and open it again. Behind him, the TARDIS doors twitched slightly, though no-one noticed.

"Doctor, stop that!" Said Rose, as Adam shut his head again.

"Thank you." Said Adam.

Rose promptly snapped her fingers, much to the man's irritation. He clicked the hole shut once more.

"The whole of history could've changed 'cos of you."

"I was only trying to help." Said Adam.

"You were helping yourself. People could've died 'cos of you."

"Yeah, I know I made mistakes and I'm sorry, I really am. But you can't just leave me like this!"

"Yeah I can. 'cos, if you show that to anyone, they'll dissect you in seconds. You'll have to live a quiet life. Stay out of trouble. Be average. Good luck."

"But I want to come with you!"

"I only take the best. I've got Rose." Hearing the sound of keys rattling outside the front door, he decided it was time to leave before having to explain things to this new arrival. He turned and stepped into the TARDIS.

"Who's there? Geoff, is that you?" Called Adam's mum's voice.

"It's me! Adam replied. Look stay there a minute, I just need to sort something!"

"Rose." He pleaded, one more time. "Take me with you."

Hearing the TARDIS powering up, the girl shrugged and followed the Doctor in without another word.

"What's that noise?" Said his mother. "Have you left the back door open?" She stepped into the room, just as the TARDIS finally vanished from sight. "Oh let me look at you. It's like I saw you yesterday. Wish you'd told me you were coming back. I could've got some more food in. I was just getting used to the house being so quiet and then snap," she clicked her fingers, "here you are again!"

Her face promptly fell.

* * *

**Next Time: Father's Day.**


End file.
